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Thursday, October 17, 2013

Full Moon Blog Blast: Guest Post by Adrianne James

As many of you may know, today is a full moon. (Maybe you have been noticing all the lunatics come out of hiding of are starting to feel a little wolfy.) In honor of the full moon, as well as the release of Adrianne James' The Tempering (of which you can read my review here) I have a fun little blog post here. A guest post from Adrianne herself, and proof that I have officially been bitten by The Tempering.

Without further ado,

Common Werewolf Myths and how they correlate with The
Tempering by Adrianne James

There are a few basics about most supernatural creatures
that we all know or wish to believe. Some authors have shunned these details to
the side in favor of their own mythology. I am one such author. Let’s take a
look at the basic werewolf mythology and The Tempering mythology side by side,
point by point.

Werewolves can be
killed with a silver bullet

Reasons
behind the myth: Silver is
identified with the moon and therefore is ideal to slay a creature transformed
under the light of the full moon. The bullet can penetrate fast and from a
distance. Anything closer and the person doing the killing wouldn’t have a
chance.

The Tempering: Silver has no effect on Werewolves. Bullets
have little effect unless shot into the head. Even then, it only stops the wolf
long enough for the body to push the bullet out and heal itself. Werewolves can
only be killed by vampire bites or decapitation.

Werewolves only appear during a full moon

Reasons behind the myth: Long-running
superstitions about the full moon's effects on animals and people.

The Tempering: If a
Werewolf is a born wolf, they can change at any time after they reach maturity
but must change with the moon. A bitten wolf can only change at the full moon
until they have control of their wolf selves. For most bitten wolves, this can
take many years.

Werewolves
revert back to their human selves at sunrise

Reasons behind the myth:
If the moon forced the change, the absence of the moon would revert it.

The Tempering: Bitten
wolves change back at sunrise. Born wolves have the choice of when to change
back.

A human
must be bit to be a Werewolf

Reasons behind myth:
Because Werewolves are seen as half human half wolf, the common thought is all
Werewolves started as a human.

The Tempering: Werewolves
can be bitten or born. If a Werewolf comes from a line of werewolves, there is
no need to be bitten. If the Werewolf’s mother and father both carry the Were
gene, the child will be a Werewolf. If the mother is a Werewolf, but the father
is not, the child has a 50% chance of being born a Werewolf. Otherwise, a human
can be bitten and turned if they do not die before the process completes.

A Werewolf
is half human half wolf, resulting in a monster like creature.

Reasons behind myth:
Fear. Humans are fearful of what they do not understand, therefore making
Werewolves into monsters.

The Tempering: Werewolves
take on the appearance of very large wolves. They are beautiful, strong, and
have piercing yellow-green eyes. Born Werewolves eyes are only this color when
they are in wolf form. Bitten Werewolves lose their human eye color and always
have this hue, whether in human form or wolf form.

Vampires
and Werewolves are mortal enemies.

Reasons behind myth:
Every living things needs another living thing to be able to kill it.

The Tempering: This one
fits. The Tempering Werewolves can only be killed by a vampire bite or
decapitation. A Werewolf bite can kill a vampire. For this reason they avoid
each other at all costs.